Kiveton Park Station Signal Box and Station Hotel

Image: © Mike Nield Taken: 3 Mar 2016

Kiveton Park Station Signal Box is currently still manned and was not affected by the 1997 Project EROS (Eradication of Signalboxes) programme, which saw Kiveton Park Colliery box close in 1985 and Kiveton Park Station take control of the remaining line from Woodhouse Junction to Kiveton Park, fringing to Woodhouse signal box, and Worksop PSB. Of the 800 signal boxes remaining in the UK (500 in England), all are destined for closure over a long period. Some have been designated Grade II Listed Buildings and will be preserved (though not necessarily where they stand today), whilst others are being considered for preservation by English Heritage. Network Rail’s policy is to demolish and destroy the boxes as soon as they have been decommissioned. However, the future of Kiveton Park Station signal box remains secure, at least for the time being, as it controls the level crossing at a particularly dangerous road junction. Kiveton Park Station was opened by the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway in 1849 and originally stood on the east of the level crossing, roughly where this picture was taken from. Today the station stands on the west side of the crossing, having been rebuilt in 1884 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Latterly, there had been a siding on the down line into what was Fyffes banana warehouse (now Quinns Car Transport), and a further siding on the upside that went into Anston Quarry, through the now bricked up tunnel beneath the road near the foot of Red Hill. Kiveton Park Station was one of only three stations between Sheffield and Worksop, the other two being Darnall and Shireoaks. There are now two additional stations, Woodhouse and Kiveton Bridge, the latter having been opened by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1929 to serve the rapidly growing communities of Kiveton Park and the neighbouring village of Wales. Travelling east from Sheffield to Worksop, Kiveton Park Station is the last station in the county of South Yorkshire. Interestingly, it had been proposed that the station be called “Dog Kennels” as this area of Kiveton Park was once known, although perhaps only locally. In the 18th century a vast swathe of land north of the Chesterfield Canal (which runs adjacent to the station) was owned by the Duke of Leeds whose hunting hounds were housed in kennels near here. Nowadays, the area around the station is known simply as Kiveton Park Station, although the road bridge over the canal carries the name “Dog Kennel Bridge” and the road from the Station Hotel up to South Anston is called Dog Kennel Hill.

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